


Is This Love?

by shaneequa



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Because Natasha realizes she loves Clint, F/M, but maybe not Clint, even though everyone knew it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1237963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaneequa/pseuds/shaneequa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the prompt at be_compromised at livejournal. People telling Natasha that she loves Clint and the one time Natasha realizes it. (Or something like that)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Loki

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Avengers/Clintasha fic that I would admit to. It's NOT BETA-ed, so I hope you guys bare with me with the grammar mistakes etc. If you would like to be my beta for this fandom, send me a PM! Still working on the last two installments of this but I'll try to update everyday. With that said, I hope you enjoy the story.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Avengers, characters or actors. They are Disney property. This is simply a fan work.

1 - Loki : "Is this Love Agent Romanoff?"

It was interesting, Loki thought, this notion of love that would exist beyond time and reason. Humans, to him, were foolish creatures who thought that the galaxy was theirs with their technology and wisdom. They knew nothing of what actually as out there, only theories. Only hope.

Agent Barton had heart. After seeing all that his life was, Loki was surprised that the man he had taken as a puppet wasn't more destructive – wasn't more like him. He was a man who was also deprived of love, hiding behind his brother's shadow who had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to kill him. Barton was a loner, he was what Loki thought he would have been if he was human, but with more anger and rage. It surprised him that the human didn't really have those emotions towards his brother, towards his parents and everyone else who did him wrong. After a few more dreams, he knew why.

Natalia Alianova Romanova.

Loki wished to finally meet the woman and see what was inside of her. From what he knew from tapping into Barton's mind, she also had a lot of obstacles to deal with, a lot of innocent blood on her hands. She was an assassin, a trickster. Someone who wasn't worthy of the love that Barton seemed to show her. A part of him sympathized with Barton, who always seem to draw the short end of the stick, with few friends and fewer people who expressed and showed their love to him. He liked this human, as like for humans go.

Loki was happy when the redhead assassin was down in the chambers they had "locked" him into to talk to him. He was hoping for more time. To see more of her from Barton's view in order to shake her.

"Your world on the balance and you bargain for one man," Loki stated. It wasn't a question. He didn't have magic for nothing. He could read her mind as well as she had been trained to read his. Her eyes were begging to have her partner back, the one person in the world that she truly trusted.

"Is this love Agent Romanoff?"

It was sarcastic. Loki had known that it was love, at least on Barton's side of the deal. But Romanoff's?

"Love is for children, I owe him a debt," Natasha stated no emotion in her words. She had often wondered whether or not she had feelings for the other agent. Especially when she would notice herself doing something she wouldn't usually do. The Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, or whoever she was at the moment was calculating in every move she made. Every smile, every twitch, every movement was done on purpose she had no accidents, until Clint.

She would find herself gravitating to him whether they would be sitting on a rooftop colleting intel on a mark, or on the rare times they would have time off, on a couch watching a movie as he filled in her on the American culture, a task he had been given by Coulson early on in their partnership. (She was simply too Russian to pass as a real American.) She would lean in close, often using Clint as some sort of support while he threw an arm behind her and pulling her towards him.

Natasha didn't know what it was exactly, but it wasn't love. She refused to acknowledge it as such. It wasn't the Red Room, it wasn't any training that had taught her that, but experience. Her parents. Bucky. Alexei. She had loved them as childish notions thinking that they would be there for her forever, with her forever.

She was wrong.

She knew that what she and Clint had couldn't last forever. They were spies, assassins who had enemies and ledgers that were dripping red. They put their lives on the line every time they were out in the field. Natasha Romanoff was an adult, she knew the dangers and the risks they signed up for as SHEILD agents. She was no longer the child who though forever existed.

To her, the notion of love was closely tied in with the word forever.

Forever was a child's prayer, and Natasha Romanoff was no child.


	2. Maria Hill

2- Maria Hill

Maria Hill, being Nick Fury's right hand woman, read all the good paper work. More specifically the reports that Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton often turned in. She was a spy first and just because she was no longer in the field doesn't mean she doesn't miss the excitement. Reading the agents' recount on their missions made her feel as if she was there. So when the Avengers turned in their paperwork - only Romanoff, Barton and Rogers actually turned in their paperwork since they were the only ones actually working for SHIELD - Maria raced to get them and read them.

Rogers' recount was very technical. Very military, to the point and with as much detail as he could recount with tactical and strategical movements that they had done. She figured that was what she was going to get from the former Army Officer. Still the old diction and the way that he recounted the events made it seem as though she was in a time machine and instead of reading something that happened merely a month previous, she was back in the late 40s in the midst of World War II where the images and the words took her.

She figured she should make a copy of the report. Phil would love to read it in his retirement home in Portland with whomever it was he was now with. She was happy for him, getting out of the Agency, starting a new, normal albeit less exciting, life. Maria glanced over the Captain America trading cards, signed and laminated on her desk, making a note to herself to send those to the former handler as well. He deserved as much, after all he was one of the greatest and SHIELD and Fury were saddened to let him go. The Council of course had no idea that the man didn't actually die but had just retired.

Putting aside Rogers' report, Maria read over Barton's report knowing that it was something that took him a while to write due to the nature of the circumstances. It clearly outlined Loki's mind control and what he could remember from the event. His role in attacking the Helicarrier and what they had used. This report was going straight to Fury, she knew that. The agent, with a small team of men was close to bringing down the precious Helicarrier which took much persuasion and funds to build in a blink of an eye.

Maria shook her head at the thought, sometimes they really did take their people for granted. Barton was clearly great at observing and planning what needed to happen and when it did. He wasn't one of the best for nothing.

The report continued on, the same narrative as Rogers' but from a bird eye view. Something that he always wrote about, seeing the whole scenario play out, it was like she was there with a camera overlooking the fight from where Barton was standing. Instead of strategies and tactics, it was how many of the Chiaturi there were, their robots and the description of how they moved, the technology that he thought and knew from his time in the mind control was inside. There was another paragraph apologizing for what he had done to the Helicarrier and Maria tried to push down the thought of how many agents were hurt, how much repair they were going to have to do because of Barton's plan. Well at least now they knew their vulnerabilities.

Putting Barton's report aside, she moved on to Romanoff's. It was interesting, she was looking forward to reading Romanoff's because it was straight forward with the case. It didn't show what she thought, just her actions and a recall of every single detail in the mission that she was given. Her report always started with the objective, how she executed it and ways to improve her execution of the objective if there was another way. Scanning the report, there was one thing that Maria wanted to read about.

"OBJECTIVE 87390 : BARTON, TAKE DOWN. AUTHORIZATION FOR KILL, AFFIRMATIVE. LOCATION: AIR VENTS AREA 3478. MARK: ARMED AND HOSTILE.

DISCUSSION: SHIELD AGENT BARTON WAS COMPROMISED BY LOKI ODINSON. RADIO CALLED BY SHIELD DIRECTOR FURY WITH LOCATION AND ORDER FOR KILL. WEAPONS USED..."

Maria sighed. There was nothing there that she didn't already see from the surveillance video. She wanted to know how the Black Widow came about with her "recognitive recalibration" of the other agent as opposed to just killing him as she had been ordered to do if she had the chance. Instead, from watching the recording and from reading her report, the Black Widow didn't try to neutralize her opponent with her widow bites or her thigh hold. Instead, she chose to disarm him and fight him so that he would come back.

"I owe him a debt."

Maria knew that the Russian would take that debt to hell and back and maybe this was her repaying the debt that she owed the archer. After all it was that Barton had made a different call, instead of killing her, he let her live and brought her back, taking the brain wash from the Red Room out of her system and making her human again. Now, Natasha Romanoff had done the exact same for Clint Barton. Maria didn't think it was just that though.

"Maria," Natasha said getting her attention. Maria looked up not all that surprised. Natasha was the Black Widow. She entered homes, killed and left without a sound. Of course she could sneak into her office without one as well.

"What can I do for you Natasha?"

"Barton needs some time off," Natasha started looking Maria in the eye. "We are taking some time off, if you need us, you can get us through the burn phone."

"Where will you be staying at?" Maria asked writing down the information on a post it, "I want to send in some protection just in case."

"We can handle ourselves. We'll be back."

Maria sighed, "Its protocol, Natasha. I need to know the location of your safe house in case you two get tracked down. After this New York incident, you two are pretty much out there."

"I know, that's why we need this time. Look, if anything comes up, Phil will know where we are. He always does, but unless something does, you better leave us be."

"Understood," Maria nodded looking back at the report. The Widow has never lied to her since she had come to SHIELD and Maria was hoping that she wouldn't start now. "I was reading through your report, I just wanted to know something."

Natasha looked at her urging for the woman to continue.

"Why did you do it? Off record. I would just like to know."

"I did it because he would've - has done - the same thing for me. We're partners."

Maria raised an eyebrow at her observing the other agent.

"You love him."

"I owe him."


	3. Coulson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before Agents of SHEILD happened, so for all intents and purposes Coulson "died" aka retired.

3 - Coulson

As a handler, Phillip Coulson's job was to know his agents and their movements. It was his job to know whether or not a mission will be successful given an agent's skillset and experience. His job was easy most of the time. Romanoff and Barton were the only two people that Fury had assigned him to work with because the two agents saw more action than any of the other SHIELD agents combined.

Coulson had started out at SHIELD around the same time that Clint Barton had. He had seen Barton and recruited the archer, the man who never missed his target and thought that SHIELD could use a talent like him after watching the man kill several SHIELD agents. He had given Clint an out, a chance to clear the red off his ledger and in turn Clint became a great friend.

Natasha Romanoff on the other hand was Clint's rescue. Coulson knew from the moment that Clint had shut off his communication from the back up team that he wasn't hurt, instead he was doing what his gut told him was right. If there was something that motivated Clint, it was his gut instincts. He wasn't going to argue with that because most of the time his gut was right and this was one of those times. The famous Russian assassin defected and became a great asset of SHIELD to which Fury would never forget and would forever be in debited to the archer for.

Coulson looked down at the two, sparring in the gym as they always do at this time when they weren't sent on missions.

Natasha would throw a hit, Clint would block it.

Clint would use some of his circus talent, contorting around Natasha like a snake wraps around its prey. Natasha would use her Red Room training to escape his grasp.

It was like watching a dance, a play. They knew each other's moves so precisely, but it was just the warm up. They wouldn't stop until there was a victor in the fight. After all, Clint and Natasha had Type A personalities that made them competitive, made them strive for victory.

Though with all that he's seen in life, Coulson had never seen two agents so compatible and in sync with each other as the two sparring before him, no two people who trusted each other more than those two.

Clint was the only person that Natasha shows her weakness to; her left ankle. In turn, Clint wasn't afraid to expose his weakness of his right shoulder to her when fighting because while they used that knowledge to their advantage, it helped the other overcome that weakness so that their enemies can't use it against them.

Coulson loved his agents, they were his family.

But as much as Coulson loved them, it was time to let them go. Let himself have a life. The paperwork was filed and he was just waiting for Fury's final sign off and mission that would wipe Phil Coulson from life and let him start anew. In Portland, he was going to be a normal guy with a normal job in Portland.

Coulson sighed walking up to his room in the Helicarrier a pen and a stack of paper in hand. Protocols be damned, he was going to say goodbye to his agents.

"Get it done, Phil – Phillip DeGrant," Coulson muttered to himself trying to get used to the new name.

He sat down at his desk and stared at the paper for what seemed like forever. How was he going to say goodbye?

"Natalia,"

He started it. Stared at the name for a while. Natasha Romanoff came into SHIELD as a different person, Natalia Alianova Romanova. Fiery red hair which matched her personality. The only person she was willing to talk to then was Barton. Not much has changed in regards to that, but she was softer now.

He remembered the times where she would look at everyone with distrust, with curiosity in her young eyes. She was about 18 when she defected. Such a young person who had gone through too much in her life, seen too many horrors that he didn't blame her for acting the way she did when she stepped foot into SHIELD.

Coulson also remembered how Clint treated her, like she was a normal person, taking her out to see the American culture, against Fury's direction and giving her someone to depend on. Now she had more than one person that she trusted and he was glad he wasn't at the receiving end of her master thigh hold on the rare times he would anger the Russian – usually something that has to do with putting her partner in danger.

Coulson smiled, that's what he would say to her in his goodbye letter.

Eighteen days and a near world destruction later, there sat a letter in a red envelope in Natasha's hand.

Natasha didn't usually get letters. Those were for soldiers who had people at home who loved them. A lover who had someone who wanted to write poems declaring the lies of undying love.

Natasha has actually never gotten a letter if she was to be completely honest. Not one that was addressed to her.

She ripped open the envelope and unfolded the stationary that was inside.

Natalia – she read in Phil Coulson's voice, trying to remember every detail of her fallen friend.

As I'm sure you and Clint have already figured out, I didn't die. Instead, I went off to have a normal life, a life that I feel I deserve after a million missions of saving the world and because at the end of the day everyone deserved to be happy.

You're probably wondering why I didn't tell you and Clint this in person. Managed to take you two out to a bar and just let it slip. It was because I didn't know when it would happen. I only wished that it would happen soon. I have a girl waiting for me in Portland. Remember her? The Cellist. Yes, I gave up this whole thing for a woman. For love.

I wanted to thank you for letting me into your beloved circle. You and Clint had a code from the moment you met and I'm thankful that you two shared a little of that with me. I know you didn't want to trust me but I am proud of the change that you have gone through in the decade that I've worked with you. Proud that you've overcome the hardship and the some of the issues that was holding you back from making friends. Laughing out loud and enjoying life. I had nothing to do with that change but I'm glad that I was there to witness it.

Look at me sounding like a proud papa. I'm too young to be your papa.

Well I know how much you hate it when people assume that you and Clint are together. Agents in SHIELD especially, but I think you should consider that the most observant people in the world, people whose trained profession is to observe people and make facts out of those observations assume that you two are together, or at least in love with one another.

As your handler, the person who was supposed to predict your every movement and know what you would do if a situation came up, I want to let you know that I'm also one of those – how did you describe it one day? Delusional people.

Here's something for you, Agent Romanoff to think about. You are a spy, you are aware of what's going on around you at all times. Do you know what's going on inside of you?

I have a feeling it's called Love.

Love isn't just for children, Natasha.

I'm living proof of that. I'm throwing away a career that Nick himself had said would have ranked me high, that gave me joy and fulfillment because of love.

I don't regret it. I know myself enough that I never will.

Enough of the lecture. It was a pleasure working with you, Agent Romanoff.

I know I don't have to tell you this but I will anyway, just as every pre-mission brief…You take care of yourself, and you take care of him.

Phil

Natasha stared at the note for a moment before slipping it back into the envelope and into the inside pocket of her leather jacket.

She shook her head walking down to the beach where Clint had gone with his purple envelope. Clint's favorite color, but only two people knew that.

The sun was setting in the background and the archer had the purple stationary in his hand. She sat next to him sitting beside him, nudging his shoulder to get his attention.

He turned to meet her gaze.

Are you ok?

I wish he would've told us.

Natasha sighed looking at the horizon for a moment before meeting his gaze again.

He's happy where he's at.

Clint nodded folding the letter in his hand into a paper airplane and throwing it out into the sea in front of them.

Natasha slipped her hand in his, giving his hand a light squeeze.

I'm here; I'll take care of you.

He squeezed back.

Thank you.


	4. Tony Stark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late updates! There was no reception in the mountains.

4 - Tony Stark

Tony Stark walked by the living room engrossed in his tablet and the design he was trying to build for the Iron Man suit that he didn't notice the redhead sitting on the couch wringing her wrists to calm her nerves down.

"Stark!" Natasha exclaimed sitting up from her spot on the couch and approaching the billionaire. She had been waiting forever for that man to do his usual kitchen run. Stark greeted her with a raise of his eyebrow seeing the difference in her stance. "I need you to hack into the SHIELD records, now."

"Why should I do that?" Stark asked her with a raised eyebrow. He would gladly hack the SHIELD database for her; he was only wondering why she just doesn't do it herself.

"Clint missed his check point," Natasha stated. "I can't hack into his mission files because Fury and Maria had it encrypted so that I can't access it with what I know. I'm learning but I just... It's taking me forever to figure it out. Come on, Stark. I know how much you like hacking SHIELD."

"Barton missed his checkpoint? How long ago was that?"

"Five hours ago," Natasha stated. "I only know because he usually calls me after checking in with Maria. He said he would have called five hours ago. Clint never forgets to call, Stark."

That was another thing that piqued Stark's interest. Why would Barton be calling the assassin after checking in with SHIELD? It was something like calling a girlfriend to check in.

"I'll do it."

Tony sat down next to where Natasha had been sitting followed by her as he tapped all over his tablet. Natasha looked over his shoulder to figure out what he was doing, needing to figure out what the genius knew about hacking would not only help her in the field but save her from further embarrassment of asking for help to see where her partner was.

"He's in Paraguay," Tony read off the short case report. "He checked in with Hill five hours ago, like he was supposed to."

Natasha looked at him confused then grabbed his tablet. "He checked in?"

"That's what it says, Red."

Natasha scrolled through the mission brief. "Why didn't he... why didn't he call me?"

"Why WOULD he call you?" Stark replied, "You're not his handler."

"I'm his partner!" Natasha replied standing up from the couch to the window. "It's just something we do, alright?"

"You two are just weird."

"You wouldn't understand…"

"But do you know what I do understand? I understand how it feels… to love someone so much that you need to know they're ok… I think you love him."

"No, I don't."

"You do," Stark said observing her through his reading glasses. "For a spy who knows everything that's going around you, you sure as hell don't get what's going on with you. I'm a genius remember? I know these things."

"Look Stark, I appreciate you going into SHIELD files and getting that info from me, but I would appreciate it if you just... left me alone. "

Stark shook his head. "Pepper used to do that, you know. She used to sit there and wait for me to call her, just for me to make some smartass comment, even after seeing me on TV knowing that I was ok. I saw the videos of her just worrying until I would let her know that I was ok. It didn't matter if the reporters were going on about how I did what, she wanted to know for herself," Tony started as he met Natasha's gaze and seeing it soften. "You should talk to Pepper."

"What you and Pepper have is completely different from what Barton and I have—or don't have for that matter."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

It was then that Natasha's phone rang causing her to jump to the couch where her phone was. That tone was specifically assigned to a text from Clint.

34535610 .-.

Natasha looked up at Stark in panic. "Call the team, get them suited up."

"What's going on?"

"Clint needs help."

"How do you know that?" Stark asked peering over her shoulder this time and looking over at the message that Clint had sent her.

"They're Long-Lat coordinates, Stark. He's asking for backup."

"Jarvis, Assemble the Avengers," Stark said typing again on his tablet arranging the logistics of the mission and grabbing the coordinates from Natasha.

"Right away, sir."


	5. Bobbi Morse

5- Bobbi Morse/Mocking Bird

The rescue mission was trickier than the Avengers had realized, but that was why they had plans Charlie, Delta, Echo all the way up to Whiskey, if they were all completely honest with themselves. All of which involved Hulk smashing.

Clint had been surrounded by the man who ran a human trafficking ring with nothing but his knife, a gift from Natasha, as his weapon. When the Avengers got there, their teammate was in a bad condition. He was unconscious, with a fractured skull, broken ribs and a whole set of other injuries that Natasha didn't like to dwell on. They had managed to extract him, but her partner was currently in a medically induced coma to help him recover. Everyone from Thor to Fury had been around to visit and ensure that the archer was alright. Natasha waited by his side, loyal as could be, though dreading each time the door opened to see who was coming in.

Natasha was dreading the moment when Clint's girlfriend finally came. Bobbi Morse. The blonde haired, blue eyed stunning woman who competed with Natasha in looks and, with more training, talent. Natasha would never admit it but there were actually times where she felt intimidated by the other woman, but just as the Red Room had trained her to, intimidation and jealousy were channeled to make her better. To compete with someone and win.

Natasha won, all the time.

A week and a half of into Clint's induced coma that Natasha realized that the blonde wasn't going to make an appearance. She had taken Bobbi's number from Clint's phone knowing that he wouldn't mind and left her messages. The first message was telling her that Clint had been rescued and that he was in a coma, then each night, Natasha took Clint's phone and left a message for Bobbi about how he was healing.

It got to the point where Natasha had looked into SHIELD files to see if Bobbi was placed on a mission, but she wasn't. Natasha shook her head at the woman's behavior. How dare she not visit Clint, the man who loved her, while he was in the coma, and when everyone else had. When even Natasha, who was only a friend to him, hadn't left his side.

Well Natasha had had enough; she called Steve to take over Clint's care for a few hours as she drove herself to Bobbi's place.

Natasha let herself in the chestnut furnished door, startling the blonde agent.

"What the – Romanoff?" Bobbi said as she lowered the Glock she had trained on her fellow agent.

"We need to talk."

Bobbi motioned the couch with a tilt of her head but the redhead denied her invitation. Bobbi sighed, this wasn't going to be easy – not that she expected it to be.

"What do you want to talk about?" Bobbi asked her playing it innocent.

"I don't have time for your games, Morse," Natasha responded venom dripping from her words. "You know exactly what I came here for."

"Look," Bobbi sighed meeting the smaller, yet intimidating, woman's gaze. "Clint doesn't need me there. He has the Avengers. He has you."

"I know you've listened to the updates I've been leaving you. He's hurt badly, Morse. I think he would want his girlfriend, the woman he loves to be at his side on this."

Bobbi squinted looking at the agent before her. Natasha Romanoff was the talk of the town, when Bobbi was just another recruit, she and the other females (albeit there were only two others in her class) looked up to the Russian spy who had a kill list longer than a textbook and whose talents were immeasurable. They'd all heard about her missions, were taught of her strategies and what had worked for her and her partner Hawkeye.

It was also said, when she had been a recruit, that Romanoff and Barton were an item – more than partners, more than lovers. Which was why she was surprised that the famous Hawkeye, whose pranks on the base were as famous as his missions, approached her and asked her on a date, a lowly probation agent who didn't really know what she was doing in the beginning? She wasn't foolish enough to say no, but she wasn't foolish enough to not know that his partner would never play a factor in their relationship.

Bobbi was actually surprised that Clint was an all-around nice guy. He made her laugh, was there when she needed help whether it was on shooting or interrogation techniques, or she just needed to melt into her couch and watch TV with his arms around her. He took her out to places she wanted to go, was creative when picking places where he wanted to take her, and he was patient, whether it was her throwing a tantrum because she was having a bad day or with her non-existent talents in the kitchen. Not to mention, the man was a great lover.

Clint Barton was perfectly, imperfect.

It was why when she found a ring in his sock drawer; her first thought was how cliché, her second, though, was how it would look on her finger.  
Bobbi Morse loved Clint Barton, and she had believed that he loved her as well.

"He has the woman he loves at his side," Bobbi stated meeting the redhead's gaze with a strong one of her own.

"No, Bobbi. You have no excuse not to actually be at his side," Natasha replied. "He's going to wake up with a broken heart because you aren't there for him."

"You're there for him."

"If it's me being there that's bothering you, I won't. I'll leave," Natasha bargained. "But you need to be there. He'd want you there."

"It's not – look, Clint and I… He's perfect. He's handsome, he makes me laugh, there for me when I cry, when I'm having a bad day. He has baggage and he'snot… He's perfect for me," Bobbi said. Natasha let the blonde rant hoping to get whatever it was that was holding the other woman back from being there by Clint's side so that hopefully, when Clint woke up, he'd be happy. Because the last person Clint had seen was Natasha, and she wanted to erase the memory of disappointment when he woke up in that short time during the mission because it wasn't Bobbi that was there for him.

But Bobbi didn't continue. She just stared at Natasha, her eyes wide, her blue eyes filled with tears she refused to shed.

"His sock drawer, the back left corner," Bobbi started. "There's a ring there."

Natasha's gaze cut to the blonde's. She felt as though her heart was getting ripped out of her chest. Her eyebrows knitted together confused, she had never felt this feeling before. Wasn't trained to know how to react and manipulate it.

Bobbi took Natasha's silence as sign for her to continue, because she honestly couldn't keep it to herself any longer. "It has your name in it."

The Russian's eyes widened and she felt her breath catch in her throat. "What?"

"The ring, it has the day you two met engraved inside I – I found it once, tried it on and though. You know what the hell, I would say yes in a heartbeat if this man proposed to me. But when I took the ring off, I saw the engraving. I didn't recognize the date, or any of the numbers that were inside. Then I figured it out. Budapest, it's the coordinates to that one place you two always refer to and it has the day that he was sent to kill you."

She looked the Natasha.

"He loves you, Natasha."

"I –" Natasha muttered not knowing how to respond to the statement.

"And you know what the best part is?" Bobbi asked her a small, sad smile forming on her face. "You love him too."


	6. Natasha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go :)

Clint woke up with a start, his lungs fighting to breathe, choking on the tube. His first instinct was to fight. Adrenalin was holding him back because the last thing he remembered was the fight. Guns, explosions, weapons and a flash of familiar red hair that made him sure he was hallucinating. She couldn't have gotten there that fast.

"Clint, stop fighting it," Natasha said, her voice entered his consciousness.  _Stop fighting._  Clint calmed down trying to relax his muscles as best he could. "I'm getting a doctor to get that tube out of your mouth. Just relax, ok?"

Clint tried his best to nod his head.

How long had it been? How was he alive? A million questions ran through his head as his eyes went in and out of focus on the white ceiling. He saw a flash of red in his peripheral vision and closed his eyes, urging them to focus.

"Agent Barton," the man in the white lab coat,  _the doctor_ , he told himself, spoke. "Let me just take this tube out of you and give you some ice while we check you over, is that all right?"

He heard himself make a strangled noise.

Felt a soft, small hand slip into his.

Clint nodded his head.

"Alright, Agent Barton," the doctor said, running a flashlight to see if his eyes would focus but causing him to shut his eyes. He felt the hand squeeze him offering support. "How do you feel, generally?"

Someone reached over and swiped an ice cube across his lips and slipped it into his dry mouth. It felt great. Though He kept his eyes shut; he needed them to focus.

"I . . . I guess I feel okay?" Clint answered, his voice rough. Another ice cube was slipped into his mouth and he squeezed the hand that was in his as a silent thank you.

"Good, good. I would like to keep you here for another day, then you can fill out the paperwork for your discharge."

"Why does he have to stay here another day?" Natasha's sharp voice caused him to open his eyes. It was just like when Loki had taken over his mind, he was having a hard time just focusing his vision but he trained his eyes on the red of her hair.

 _Better_.

"Observation purposes, Agent Romanoff," the doctor replied as if unfazed by the Russian. "He has been in a medically induced coma for two weeks. We are going to pump him with fluids to get the last of the medicine out of his body, and then he'll be ready to go."

The doctor paused, looking from Clint to Natasha. "If that's all, I need to fill out his paperwork and get it ready for his release tomorrow. I expect he will be staying in the Avengers Tower and will have someone at his side?"

"Yes."

"Good, have a nice day, Agents."

Clint turned to Natasha, his brows knitted in confusion.  _Two weeks._

Natasha stared at the wall behind him, tugging her hand away from his grasp. She pulled out her phone and tapped away, feeling Clint's eyes on her.

After a few more moments, she tucked her phone back into the pocket of her (Clint's) hoodie. "Steve and the team will be coming in about an hour to sit with you."

He reached over for the glass of water she had poured and drank it.

"How long have I been here?"  _How long have_ you _been here?_

"Two weeks," Natasha answered tentatively meeting his gaze. "You were pretty bad when we got to you."

Clint nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. He saw how she was fidgeting with her hands, how her eyes constantly scanned the room – something she hadn't done since the second year in their partnership when he'd finally gained her trust. "What's wrong, Nat?"

"What?"

"Something's wrong, what is it?"

"You didn't call to check in," Natasha muttered.  _Why do you have a ring for me?_

"By the time I was supposed to check in, I knew I was already in trouble . . . I thought Maria would call you when I didn't check in with her."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't call her?"

"No, I was already surrounded by then."

"The file – Stark—I . . ." Natasha said, confused breathing in to control her anger. SHIELD had known that one way or another; she would get access to the mission files and had fabricated the check in. Her body stiffened. If they hadn't done that, maybe the Avengers would have been there faster and Clint wouldn't have spent the last two weeks in a coma.

Clint let his head rest on the pillow. For someone who had been sleeping for two weeks, he felt exhausted.

"You should go to sleep," Natasha muttered, raising her hand to run a hand through his hair as she had been doing throughout the past two weeks. She stopped herself mid-action and tucked her defiant hand into the pocket of her hoodie with her phone.

"Hey, I'm sorry for adding to your wrinkles," Clint said with a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood. It was a running joke between them, that each time the other was in the hospital,wrinkles were added to their ageless faces.

"You owe me a bottle of Clinique when this is over," Natasha replied with a small smile on her face.

"You need a whole box," Clint pointed out, his voice turning raspy once again, a reminder of the past two weeks where when he lay had not made a sound.

Natasha squinted her eyes in mock anger at the archer. "I should ask Fury for a new partner. Someone who won't make me age."

"You won't do it," Clint jabbed. "You love me too much."

Natasha's gaze cut to his abruptly.

Thor and the gang walked into the scene unannounced.

Natasha didn't know whether to be relieved or not.

She stood from her chair, letting Bruce take over her post by Clint's side. Standing off in the corner, she observed Clint with the team. How Clint looked while Steve talked to him about his latest adventure in attempting to fly a plane because Fury wanted him to know how to pilot a Quinjet. Thor's adventures camping with Jane. Stark's new invention which happened to be better armor for the archer to prevent the last two weeks from ever happening again, and Bruce's latest trip to Africa.

Natasha stood at the back corner watching their team fill him in on all he'd missed. Two words played in her mind in an unending cycle.

 _I do_.

_I do._

_I do._


	7. Clint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the story :)

Natasha hadn't been purposely ignoring Clint. If anything, she had been there for his recovery since he woke up and when he went from the hospital back to the tower. It wasn't her fault that a day after he came back, Fury called her in for a mission which lasted five weeks. Five long weeks of her just contemplating about her feelings, five weeks to convince herself that she didn't love him after all, it was just the circumstances and his most recent near death experience and everyone's insistence that she did love him.

Nevertheless, he was the first thing she sought for after a mission. This one in particular where children were involved.

Natasha found him on the rooftop of the Tower, which Tony had affectionately dubbed "Hawk's Nest." She knew the moment that he knew she was there; his body stiffening at the presence and relaxing knowing that it was Natasha. Taking it as permission to join him, she sat next to the edge of the roof, bumping her shoulder against his casually.

"How did your op go?" Clint asked her, never shifting his gaze from the streets below them.

"You how I hate it when kids are involved I just..." she trailed on as he placed an arm around her shoulder squeezing it and dropping his hands back, curving it at the edge of the roof.

Silence filled the air and unlike the previous times they would sit and watch the city, it wasn't a peaceful silence.

"I talked to Bobbi," Clint started, "she uh, she broke up with me."

Natasha turned to look at him, sucking in a breath. "I... I'm sorry; I know how much you love her."

"No, it was- I'm alright. I just realized I didn't I was – in love," Clint paused with a sigh placing his hands in the pocket of the purple hoodie he was wearing. "I didn't love her. I spent a whole year with her, trying to make myself love her trying... trying…"

"Trying what Clint?"

"I just – Bobbi and I talked. About our relationship, being friends – and about other things, about the ring, about you coming there – about my feelings and I – and it all just clicked with me."

For the first time, Clint glanced her way, the hand in his hoodie gripping the small black box he had placed there. He pulled out the box, took a ring out. It was simple; a princess cut diamond in the middle, a solid silver band surrounded by smaller diamonds.

Natasha watched with awaited breathe as Clint twirled the ring around his fingers playing with it. It was the ring; the ring that Bobbi had talked about. She glanced at the inside seeing the numbers, Budapest.

Her name encrypted in the code that only they had.

She swallowed the lump in her throat waiting for his next move. Everything she had done to forget her feelings, to bury down and rationalize the love she felt for Clint was erased.

Natasha Romanoff was in love.

In love with Clint Barton.

And it seemed as though he loved her back.

For a few moments the world stood still as Clint held the ring up, examining it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I'm in love with you," Clint whispered, "and you're never going to love me."

Natasha, stunned at Clint's revelation didn't notice that she was alone on the roof. The ring shinning on the floor where Clint had been only moments ago, a part of it hanging off the roof, tethering on the edge.

"Clint!" Natasha exclaimed picking up the ring and slipping it into the pocket of her jeans.

Clint turned from the door of the fire escape. "You don't have to explain yourself, Nat. I get it. I think I got it a long time ago. I just needed time to accept it."

Natasha shook her head violently stepping into his personal space. "How could you understand if I didn't myself?"

"Look, we'll be friends still okay? It's fine – I'm fine. ."

"I don't – this isn't pity Clint."

Natasha lifted his chin up to meet her gaze. He returned her gaze; hurt and confused. She kept her gaze trained at him, raising an eyebrow at him.

With the other hand, she took the ring out of her pocket, picking his other hand up, a small smirk on her face as she took his hand and helped him place the ring on her finger.

It was impractical. The ring, it was a dead giveaway that she had a weak spot, and at the end of the day she wouldn't end up wearing the ring at all, she would end up tucking it in a small pocket on the inside of her uniform or a hidden compartment in the luggage she would carry around when undercover. As impractical as it was, she would keep the ring with her.

As practical as it would be, they would never actually get married. Never go in front of the justice or a village elder or a church. Paper trails and officiality would give away their Achilles Heel. As practical as it would be, they would move into Natasha's floor, because she had a walk in closet she couldn't get rid of and Clint's floor would be made into a bowling alley, per Tony's suggestion and Thor's amusement. There would be no celebration of union, except every night after a long day when they would curl up in the California King bed and thank the dieties that they were still there together. There would be a plant, then a fish, then a dog, then the probability of the pitter patter of a mini-assasin who would have her mother's looks and her father's charm. But to them that would still be practical.

Clint lifted her left hand to his mouth, leaving a chaste kiss on it.

 _Thank you_.

Natasha smiled back, her hands coming to rest on both sides of his face.

_I love you._

She leaned in a kissed him.


End file.
